514 



CONSERVATION 



150 per cent more than is required to drain 

 it. This land would support from 2,000,000 

 to 3,000,000 population. Approximately 40,- 

 000,000 acres of lands in western and south- 

 western states are adapted to irrigation, 

 which, if reclaimed at an average cost of $25 

 an acre, would be worth not less than $200 

 an acre, or a total of $8,000,000,000, and pro- 

 vide homes for more than 8,000,000 persons. 

 The economic value of irrigation cannot be 

 measured in dollars and cents, but crops of 

 from $500 to $1,000 an acre are not rare in 

 the irrigated districts. There are already 

 14,000,000 acres under irrigation, and the 

 Reclamation Service estimates it will have re- 

 claimed 2,000,000 acres, at a cost not exceed- 

 ing $70,000,000, before the close of 1911. The 

 construction and improvement of the deep 

 waterways required to provide better and 

 cheaper transportation facilities is, I believe, 

 a 100 per cent investment, from the fact that 

 two-thirds of the bulky freight could be 

 shipped by water routes, at a cost to the ship- 

 per of not more than one-sixth the present 

 rail rates. The importance of this becomes 

 apparent when it is remembered that the food 

 question is becoming a world problem. It is 

 estimated tint the average annual loss from 

 poor roads is 76 cents an acre, while the 

 average increase resulting from improving 

 all public roads is $9. 



"The value of our forests was never bet- 

 ter appreciated than to-day. Within the arid 

 and semi-arid portions of the Western States 

 nearlv 124,000,000 acres are covered with 

 woodland, of value for fuel, fence posts and 

 other purposes essential to the success of the 

 farmer. There also 97,000,000 acres cov- 

 ered with heavy forests having commercial 

 value for timber and logs. Reforestation 

 and conservation of these vast resources are 

 necessary to provide future generations with 

 timber and lumber supplies." 



Five Billions for Irrigation 



Somebody is shocked because the advocates 

 of irrigation by the National Government 

 suggest spending five billions within a few 

 years, putting water on dry, desert land. One 

 brilliant paragraph writer says : "Only five 

 billions ! The national irrigators are too shy. 

 Make it a hundred!" 



Yes, make it a hundred billions, by all 

 means, if th^t amount is required for irriga- 

 tion, and if the country in the centuries ahead 

 can spare it which it can. 



No money can be spent more wisely than 

 the money spent to supply water, fertility and 

 crops to soil dry and useless without the 

 water. 



Five billions seems like a good deal of 

 money, but it isn't very much if it is well 

 spent. The nation that can talk gliblv about 

 piling up battle-ships, instruments of death, 

 at ten millions apiece ; the nation that can 

 give that fortune of a thousand millions to 

 an individual ; the nation, that can spend 

 millions for whisky that ruins the brain and 



the body can well afford to spend billions 

 on irrigation, which is the improvement of 

 the earth. 



The greatest source of wealth that we 

 know is water. The water is drawn up from 

 the salt ocean, scattered over the land by the 

 clouds. The rain pours into the Great Lakes. 

 And this water, worth many times five bil- 

 lions, rushes out into the ocean, where it is 

 lost, taking with it through the mouth of 

 the Mississippi and other great rivers the 

 valuable soil worth many millions more. 



Before the waters of our lakes and rivers 

 run back to the ocean human ingenuity 

 should take all that is needed to scatter over 

 the dry fields. Even the fields that we call 

 fertile need more water, and ought to have it. 



Farmers impoverish themselves paying 

 thirty and forty dollars a ton for fertilizer. 

 But the fertilizer without the water is use- 

 less, and with irrigation the water would not 

 cost half a cent a ton. 



When the Government spends its millions 

 and billions on irrigation it will be doing the 

 real work of the human race on this earth. 

 Our work here is to develop the earth, make 

 it into a beautiful park, fertile, every inch 

 irrigated and cultivated a park in which hu- 

 man beings may live together in peace and 

 plenty, in harmony and friendship. 



This work is going to be done, and the 

 advocates of irrigation help it along. The 

 day will come when not a dollar will be spent 

 for a rifle, a bullet, a battle-ship or a lawyer. 

 Emulation will replace competition every- 

 where. Contests between men will be con- 

 tests of the mind, each struggling, not to help 

 himself, but to help the whole of humanity 

 by adding to the wealth and knowledge of 

 the race. 



This rich country, with its great lakes, its 

 enormous fortunes, its vast tracts of land 

 that need irrigat : on. and that will repay irri- 

 gation with ten dollars for one, ought to lead 

 in the task of beautifying this earth. 



The people of France, after the war with 

 Germany, were condemned to pay a fine of 

 five thousand millions of francs to Prussia. 

 The sum was raised by the French people, 

 not only once, but fourteen times over. 



France, a small nation, at the end of a dis 

 a stroii s war, was ready with fourteen billions 

 of dollars to pay a war debt. 



Would it be such a horrible thing for this 

 country to raise five billions of dollars to pay 

 pTt of man's debt to this earth that supports 

 us ? Boston A nicrican. 



Bond Issues for River Improvements 



"One of the most vital questions of the 

 hour, and in some particulars the most vital, 

 eliminating tariff revision from consideration, 

 is the ouestion, 'How will Congress meet the 

 demands for improving and maintaining the 

 waterways of the United States ?' 



This statement was made bv Representa- 

 tive Richard Bartholdt, of Missouri. Con 

 tinning, Mr. Bartholdt said : 



